Children of Alcoholism: The Struggle for Self and Intimacy in Adult Life [Hardcover]

Barbara Wood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1987

In this sensitive and richly rewarding book Barbara L. Wood, a clinician with many years' experience working with adult children of the chemically dependent, gives clinicians informed and practical advice on how to treat the damaged self of these individuals. She offers strategies for intervention, along with step-by-step principles that tell the therapist how best to create an environment to help patients.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Wood is concerned with the trauma experienced by children raised in an alcoholic home and the impact of this early trauma on their psychological development and adult adjustment. As she notes, children of alcoholics often adopt the same self-destructive patterns of alcoholism as their parents. Consequently they suffer from feelings of emptiness, futility, and hopelessness. Wood writes within a psychodynamic framework that attempts to address these problems by dredging up events from the past. Other factors under serious consideration by the medical community todayincluding genetic predisposition and biological basesare ignored. The overall appeal of her work is thus limited to those of a similar theoretical persuasion. Barbara J. Powell, Kansas City Veteran's Administration Medical Ctr., Mo.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Neatly packaged, intelligently written, and intensely interesting. . . .Drawing on her training and personal experiences, Wood has written a book about development of the essence of oneself, impediments to fulfillment of personal needs, and encouragement of more satisying forms of self-expression. Her insightful vignettes illustrate both the rationale and application of the strategies she suggests and explain her terapeutic mistakes. Regardless of one's theoretical alliances and level of treatment expertise, this book can be used to enhance conceptualization of psychopathology, reevalaute the emotional climate fostered in the therapeutic situation, and refine processes for encouraging patient confidence, creativity, and positive affect. Compelling from intellectual and emotional standpoints, this compact volume is highly recoommeded to a general clinical readership."

-Contemporary Psychology,

"Informed and practical advice on how to successfully treat adult children of alcoholics. The author, a clinician with many years of experience working with adult children of the chemically dependent, uses object relations theory and Heinz Kohut's self psychology to explore the underlying reasons for these patients' dangerously low self-esteem."

-EAP Digest,

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 182 pages
• Publisher: NYU Press (October 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814792197
• ISBN-13: 978-0814792193
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,012,017 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very helpful if you're ACOA., September 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Children of Alcoholism: The Struggle for Self and Intimacy in Adult Life (Hardcover)

In trying to find who I am, I've been wondering why I don't know who I am. The theories presented in this book hit home for me, and, while I'm still looking, I think I'm starting to get the "why". Well researched and very helpful. Thanks Barbara.